 You work hard for your money and your money should be working hard for you. But if you're just starting your career, you're probably more concerned about making ends meet rather than jumping into the stock market. Quit it with the excuses. You don't need a ton of money when you have something more valuable. Time. The math here is simple. Let's just say that you're a 22-year-old making $35,000 a year and you're worried about paying for rent, food, clothes, and maybe the occasional avocado toast. Okay, I know that's a ridiculous stereotype. But if you put 10% of your salary into a 401k, you'll end up with $1.1 million by the time you're 65. And you can buy all the avocado toast you want then. By the way, that's assuming you don't end your career as the CEO of a big company. I only factored in a 2% annual raise and I assumed your employer isn't contributing any money. A lot of employers are, so take advantage. It's free money. So here's my take. If you're scraping by and 10% seems like a lot, keep this in mind. 10% is not really 10% in this case. That money is going into your 401k before taxes so the pinch won't feel so painful. Contributing money to your 401k lowers your annual tax bill. You will have to pay those taxes after age 60 when you withdraw that money. But let's face it, you're going to be a millionaire by then. Also, once you set this up, the money is transferred automatically from your paycheck and into your 401k. So you don't even have to think about it. Set it up now and thank me later.